SINGULAR DECISIONS by James White

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 12, 1880

SINGULAR DECISIONS.

By James White

IN Newark, N. J., a minister denounced the captain and crew of the Narragansett as cowards, and the captain, being present, promptly denounced the minister as a liar. He was arrested for disturbance, and the justice acquitted him on the ground that it was no greater disturbance than the “loud amens” of approval, which were permitted in the church.

In Cleveland, Ohio, a man was arrested for persisting in smoking in a car, contrary to the rules, to the great annoyance of the passengers, and against the repeated demands of the conductor. He was acquitted on the ground that the ladies offended other passengers also by scenting themselves with musk!

We cannot defend the act of the minister, and we confess that musk is very offensive to our olfactories; but we insist that both these decisions were wrong in principle. And we are astonished that editors are found to approve them. Justice is surely mocked when it is only necessary to prove that somebody else has done something as bad, to procure a dismissal from a charge of wrong. At this rate we shall not be surprised to see the thief set free by showing that he is not the only thief in the neighborhood. Where are our rights under such decisions? J. H. W.